Did Anderson Know

[Natalie Severn]

http://forum.casebook.org/showthread.php?t=506

And if Anderson had genuine reason to suspect Kosminski was protected by his family because he was approached by Aaron's Sister? Would that alter your view on Anderson Norma?

Pirate

Afraid not Jeff.I would give much greater credence to a] the absence of any actual recorded crimes of violence or any police record of violent behaviour or b] the fact that medical staff who assessed him at Colney Hatch and Leavesdon wrote in his admission notes that he was "harmless" and "not a danger to others" .
His sister could also have had mental health problems of a delusionary nature like Aaron Kosminski himself did.
The only time he appeared in a court of law was when he had failed to comply with the law as it wasthen and put a muzzle on the dog he was walking in Cheapside in November 1889.

[Chris]

Here's a clue. In #6 there's no mention of the suspect being caged in an asylum.

There's no mention about that either way. It's scarcely an inconsistency. And of course Anderson had been saying from 1895 onwards that he thought the Ripper had been put in an asylum.

On the Broadmoor question, there's no contradiction between the 1908 statement that there wasn't enough evidence to send him to Broadmoor, and the other statements that he was committed to an asylum. Sending him to Broadmoor would have required sufficient evidence for him to be charged with a criminal offence (or else, perhaps, to justify direct action by a Secretary of State).

[robhouse]

Simon,

Let's skip your point #5 for the time being...

Anderson in all probability removed the phrase "caged in an asylum" simply because he realized that what he wrote was incorrect, in that the identification took place before Kozminski was caged in an asylum, not after. This does not suggest that Anderson meant Kozminski was never caged in an asylum... it just means that he did not bother to include it. There is certainly a lot about Kozminski that Anderson did not include in his autobiography. But perhaps you have heard the phrase "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence."

Again, can you show me any inconsistencies in these 5 quotes... it seems that your thesis is that these quotes are evidence of an evolution... or a change in what Anderson wrote and/or believed about the Polish Jew suspect. Can you please point out one example?

RH

[robhouse]

Argumentum ad ignorantiam...

Anderson also did not write in his autobiography that "the world is round"... this does not mean that he believed it was not.

RH

[Natalie Severn]

re Anderson"s "reckless accusation"

Sir Henry Smiths words:

"Sir Robert does not tell us how many of "HIS PEOPLE" sheltered the murderer,but whether there were two dozen in number or two hundred or two thousand,he accuses them of being "accessories" to these crimes before and after their committal ! Surely Sir Robert cannot believe that while the Jews as he asserts,were entering into the conspiracy to defeat the ends of justice there was noone with sufficient knowledge of criminal law to warn them of the risks they were running?"*

Smith adds the following footnote here:

"*In murder cases accessories after the fact-according to Stephen"s Digest,a very reliable work in Criminal Law-are liable to penal servitude for life and thus the Jews of the East End.against whom Sir Robert makes his reckless
assertion,come under this category"

[Chris]

His sister could also have had mental health problems of a delusionary nature like Aaron Kosminski himself did.

I know I said I wasn't going to respond to any more of your posts, but I think it should be made clear that there is no evidence that Aaron's sister Matilda had any mental health problems. She is remembered by her grandchildren and there is no hint of anything like that in what they have told us.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Chris,

"And of course Anderson had been saying he thought the Ripper had been put in an asylum from 1895 onwards."

Except in 1908 when he said—" . . . the author of those murders was a lunatic, and if evidence had been available to bring him to justice he would have been sent to Broadmoor.”

Why would Anderson only think the Ripper had been put in an asylum? Why didn't the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police make it his business to know this for a fact?

Hi Rob,

As you're so obviously in desperate need of something tangible to grasp at, PM me your address and I'll mail you a bundle of straw.

Regards,

Simon

[robhouse]

Simon,

Can you please just PM me the bundle of straw via the messaging feature in this website? Thanks. You are right.. I am in desperate need of something new to grasp at.

Rob

[Natalie Severn]

The above footnote by Police Chief Henry Smith ,tallies with that of Greenberg in that both write of Anderson"s "reckless" or " wicked" assertions.

Greenberg [Mentor]-editor of the Jewish Chronicle of March 1910:

"A more wicked assertion to put into print ,without the shadow of evidence, I have seldom seen"

[Simon Wood]

Hi Rob,

Here you are. This should keep you going for a while—



Regards,

Simon

[Natalie Severn]

I know nothing of Matilda"s mental health but if she was the person who suggested her brother Aaron was Jack the Ripper then the doctors at Colney Hatch and Leavesdon didnt in any sense support her.That,for me at any rate,speaks volumes.Admitedly it "might not" have done for Anderson,but then he seemed to make a point of contradicting medical opinion.
Best
Norma

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

Surely, the only answers to..Did Anderson know? are...

1. If he DID know, he produced no proof. Like so many others.
2. If he only thought he knew, he had no proof, like so many others.
3. If he didn't know, it doesn't matter. Like many others.

Until someone comes out with absolute proof that he did know, we can only put that he MAY have thought he knew, or that he didn't know and was trying to convince others, for whatever reason, and that includes vanity, self image, egoism etc etc.

Personally, I am of the belief he had other agendae. One of which was his ego.

best wishes

Phil

[Chris]

Why would Anderson only think the Ripper had been put in an asylum? Why didn't the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police make it his business to know this for a fact?

How could he know it for a fact? Obviously he couldn't.

The point I'm making is that from the mid-1890s he had been consistent in his belief that the murderer had gone to an asylum. So it's silly to try to make out that there's a contradiction just because he doesn't explicitly say so.

[Simon Wood]

Hi Phil,

Honestly! There's always some smartass who comes along, crosses all the Ts, dots all the Is, puts things into perspective and then buggers off with barely an how's your father or tip of the hat.

Regards,

Simon

[Chris]

Natalie

All I can do is repeat that there is no evidence that Aaron's sister Matilda had any mental health problems whatsoever - all the evidence we have is to the contrary.

Please remember that any suggestion that any member of Aaron's family might have thought he was the murderer is sheer speculation. So there is nothing that should "speak volumes" to you.